a good change of pace
by Canadino
Summary: A haircut is refreshing and a good change of pace. Kazemaru-doesn't-quit-track!AU, Kaze/Miya


**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

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a change of pace

Kazemaru comes in one day with his hair suddenly short and tapered down at his neck, and all Miyasaka can think is _oh my gosh_. Wind resistance, Kazemaru explains, when asked about the sudden change. If my hair is shorter, I'll have less wind resistance and I'll go faster. And anyway, it's time for a change of pace. He laughs and pulls it off so smoothly, because Kazemaru is the kind of boy who can pull anything off smoothly. Miyasaka stares.

It's Kazemaru's third and last year in middle school and he looks quite the part and has been having a great track record (both literally and metaphorically, of course). All the third years are getting pretty lax in wearing their gakurans well, but only some of them look like they're really supposed to be graduating from it. Kazemaru is a good student, so he keeps his buttons buttoned and Miyasaka has noticed he still has the second button from the top and sometimes, late at night, he wonders how he can manage to get Kazemaru to give it to him.

The thing about high school students is that even though they're not much older, somehow they have an air of maturity and authority and Miyasaka can tell that the older boys on the track team are itching for that sort of air. The thing is, Kazemaru's already got that, so Miyasaka doesn't know how else he can change for high school. Miyasaka wants to watch, but he's got one more year here until he's got entrance exams (which he will apply to sempai's school, obviously).

Miyasaka's in the upperclassmen homeroom to discuss track event schematics with some of the upperclassmen but everything leaves his head when he sees Kazemaru and he thinks, as he lingers for a final glance before being late to his own homeroom, is that Kazemaru looks different and he doesn't know if he likes it yet.

In between second and third period, when he runs to math and sees Kazemaru, who waves to him, in the hallway, he thinks maybe it looks a little bit good. At first the other boys made fun of Kazemaru, all in good fun, because really only girls had long hair but he took it well and he ran fast so it worked out. It gives Miyasaka good thoughts, that after his whole life occasionally being mistaken as a pretty girl, there are boys who don't look masculine but can be really, really cool.

It used to be, in track practice, Kazemaru leads the team in warm-ups and Miyasaka would look on admiringly from behind at that lovely tail of hair. Now it's short and cropped but Miyasaka still looks at Kazemaru all the same and thinks, maybe it's really not so bad. A couple days later when he spots Kazemaru standing in the courtyard with a girl confessing to him, Miyasaka thinks, actually, it looks really good on Kazemaru – short hair.

So Miyasaka takes a pair of scissors and goes looking for Kazemaru. He finds his senior in the hallway after lunch staring into the back where the track field is.

"Sempai," Miyasaka says, and Kazemaru turns to him. He's thought a lot about this, Miyasaka has, a lot during the day and yesterday. As Kazemaru watches, he takes the scissors to his hair and cuts it off, raggedy and uneven, until it's cropped much shorter than before. Strands of blonde flutter to the floor but Miyasaka keeps a firm grip on the handfuls of hair in one hand and the pair of scissors in the other.

"How is it?" he asks, smiling a little, biting his lip a little. "That way they won't ask me at meets if I'm the manager anymore. And I can't let you be the only one looking really cool on the team." It's a symbol of reverence really, because while a lot of him likes Kazemaru, a little bit wants to be him. He must look really silly, now in retrospect. Hacking off his hair in front of a senior in the middle of the hallway. How silly.

But Kazemaru smiles. "You look cute," he says. My cute little kohai.

This is a good change of pace.

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Note: After a long winter break suddenly I get back into a fandom and that fandom is Inazuma? No stop why is this happening.


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